Patrick Wisdom hit a grand slam as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, and Seiya Suzuki also hit a home run, leading the Chicago Cubs to a 9-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.
Wisdom replaced Pete Crow-Armstrong and smashed a 440-foot home run off Sam Long into the fountains in left field, giving the Cubs a 7-4 lead.
“That was pretty cool,” Wisdom said. “I don’t think it really hit me until I was rounding second base and I saw the dugout going nuts so that was pretty special for sure.”
Seth Lugo (12-5), who pitched 6 1/3 innings, put the runners on base. He gave up six earned runs on five hits, walked two, and struck out two.
“He gave us a really good chance to win. He is out there in the seventh after giving up three runs,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Not as many strikeouts; they did a good job of putting the ball in play and forcing some action.
Lugo gave us a chance to win but you have to give them credit for putting the ball in play.”
Julian Merryweather (1-0) pitched an inning to get the win. Cubs starter Shota Imanaga went 5 2/3 innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits and striking out three.
“I thought Shota was good and I think they did a really good job against him,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “They were really good against the high fastball and the splitter and fouled off a ton so credit to them because I thought he threw a lot of good pitches.” Just a good night in all phases.”
Suzuki hit his 15th home run, driving in Michael Busch to make it 2-0 in the first inning. Hunter Renfroe hit his 10th home run for Kansas City in the second inning.
